Football Association chairman responds to Fifa president's claims that British
media is racist, saying that Swiss must stand down and end corrupt regime

Greg Dyke led a European rebellion against Sepp Blatter on Tuesday night after rounding on the Fifa president’s accusations of racism against the British media before calling for him to stand down.

Football Association chairman Dyke took Blatter to task in front of more than 100 Uefa delegates in Sao Paulo, as the Swiss was left in no doubt that football's most powerful confederation opposed his controversial campaign for re-election.

Dyke had not planned to speak during Tuesday’s meeting of the European game’s leading officials prior to arriving in Brazil.

But after learning of Blatter’s astonishing attack on the British media over its investigations into corruption allegations at Fifa, the FA chairman was unable to let the “offensive” remarks pass unchallenged.

He told Blatter, who attended the meeting: “I regard the comments you made yesterday about the allegations in the British media, in which you described them as racist, as totally unacceptable.

“The allegations being made are nothing to do with racism. They are allegations about corruption within Fifa.

“These allegations need to be properly investigated and properly answered.”

He added: “Mr Blatter, many of us our deeply troubled by your reaction to these allegations. It’s time for Fifa to stop attacking the messenger and instead consider and understand the message.”

Dyke’s intervention came three years after his predecessor, David Bernstein, attempted to postpone Blatter’s re-election during Fifa’s annual congress, something that isolated the FA.

This time, English football’s governing body found itself among allies who queued up to call for the Swiss to resign.

Blatter responded to Dyke’s speech by promising to address his concerns during Fifa’s latest congress on Wednesday, when he is also expected to formally declare his intention to stand for a fifth term as president at next year’s elections.

The 78-year-old appears to have sewn up victory in the last 48 hours after gaining the support of the majority of world football’s six continental confederations.

But the biggest of them all refused to follow suit, with Uefa president Michel Platini still considering whether to challenge Blatter for the most powerful job in the game.

Platini and other senior European figures are angry that Blatter has reneged on a promise that his current term would be his last, while many believe the Swiss cannot continue to lead Fifa in the wake of the corruption allegations to engulf it.

“Amongst the British public, without any doubt, the brand Fifa is damaged – serially damaged – and I suspect that’s the same through large parts of Europe,” said Dyke, who indicated Blatter should stand aside.

“We will decide that at a board meeting but I suspect there is a view within the FA that we would support that position.”

Vice-chairman David Gill was even more forthright, the former Manchester United chief executive saying Blatter should have kept his promise to stand down.

Branding the Swiss’s accusations of racism “totally unacceptable” and “absolute nonsense”, he added of Fifa: “You can change the structure, but unless you have the right people in it, the structure is irrelevant to me.”

Dyke’s speech followed an even more forthright intervention by the chairman of the Dutch FA, Michael van Praag, who is emerging as the most likely challenger to Blatter if Platini decides not to stand.

He said: “In the last eight or nine years, Fifa has built an ugly reputation, not only in the press but you only have to look at Twitter – ‘#Fifa, #Blatter, #Fifamafia’.

“There are reasons – bribery, money and corruption are so often linked. Fifa has a bad reputation. Fifa has an executive person and if you like it or not, you have a responsibility.”

Former Uefa president Lennart Johansson, beaten by Blatter in the 1998 Fifa election, and even disgraced former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner joined the clamour for the Swiss to resign.

The latest corruption allegations against Fifa centre on its decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, which is being investigated by its own ethics committee.

Chief investigator Michael J Garcia concluded his inquiry on Monday, with his report due to be published in September or October, but Dyke called for it to be extended if it had not addressed the most recent claims published in the media.

He added of the allegations: “If they turned out to be true, it’s pretty difficult for a chief executive to continue in most circumstances.”

Fifa is also under siege over this summer’s World Cup in Brazil, which has been beset by strikes and protests against the billions spent on the tournament.

Dyke, who arrived in Sao Paulo on Monday, said: “You only reason you’d know there was a World Cup on here is that half the people are on strike and your can’t get from the airport!

He added: “When you talked about a World Cup in Brazil, you expected something I think that you don’t find here.

“Clearly, there are a large number of people in this country who clearly think that too much money is being spent in a country where there are still extremes of poverty.”